The Gem and The Blade
by Squirrels-R-Awesome
Summary: The story of two squirrels whose pasts bring them together in a fight for justice, freedom, and revenge.


_Squirrels-R-awesome: Hello! No, we don't own Redwall. The villain, Viluz, is entirely mine. As is Jadesong. Vrel is Lord Admiral Vrel's, though. =D_

_Editing was done by him, but other then that, we shared the work equally. ^_^_

Prologue

Blood fell, staining the snow covered ground, as the maiden screamed, a large spear protruding from her stomach, her eyes wide with shock. 

The warrior stared at her, helpless to move, to even cry out as he watched his wife and unborn child fall to the ground, dead.

Vrel woke quickly, screaming out in rage, tears running down his face. He continued for a few moments, before lying down, his thoughts and dreams haunting him.  
He lay there for hours, remembering, when the storm broke. Vrel stood shakily, and stumbled out into the storm, screaming his fury to the heavens, to the thunder and lightning, and whatever else might have been out there.  
Lightning flashed, and struck not fifty paw-lengths from him, and though he was temporarily deafened and blinded, he screamed on, in the direction where the bolt struck  
"Nulli expugnabilis hosti! Come, hit me as best you can! It doesn't matter... Nothing matters anymore..." 

He finally fell to the ground, sobbing, screaming for death to overtake him, but it wouldn't. Not this night.

Vrel woke early, at dawns first light, and continued his hunt for revenge. One name on his lips... Viluz! Looking to the sky, he smiled grimly, a glint in his eye. A red sun rising... Blood would spill this day.

The warm breeze rippled across the stream, turning the leaves in their merry dance, and ruffling Jadesong's fur. The serene atmosphere put a spell over her and her young brother, Brilo, and made the young squirrels feel quite peaceful, albeit a bit drowsy. 

Suddenly a twig snapped, and something metallic clanked, and Jadesong snapped up, climbing a nearby tree quickly, scanning the forest.  
There, quite near, was a score or so of vermin, heading right towards her, and her family!

She jumped down and ran, grabbing her brother and pulling him with her, into their small tree-dwelling, where their mother was preparing dinner, and their father, Kindo, was  
sitting in the corner, in his favorite rocking chair. Jadesong didn't waste time, and immediately said "Vermin! Coming right towards us, at least twenty, we've got to go!"  
But it was too late, a stoat, followed by two rats, burst through the door, spears and sword drawn and ready.  
The stoat let out a throaty chuckle, and spoke "Wad'der we got 'ere?"  
He prodded his sword into Kindo's stomach, and laughed cruelly "Old soft-gut, eh? It don't matter mate, Viluz takes the work of all creatures, good honest labor, aye?"  
The two rats nodded violently, as the stoat simply walked out, waving his paw, and said "Bind 'em, Viluz'll be wanting all the slaves 'e can git 'is paws on."

A few seasons later, Jadesong stopped her work as Viluz, the wolf who had enslaved her and her family, as well as many other woodlanders, came to inspect the work on his fortress, that the slaves were busy building. 

She glared at him from the shadows, as he walked among the slaves, surrounded by naught but three guards. He glanced around and said, loudly enough for all the slaves to hear;  
"Well, it seems lately we've had an outbreak of slackers. I could waste time bantering with you all, about it, but I'm rather busy, so instead, I'll just give you a demonstration of what will happen." 

He reached out and grabbed a young squirrel, who was barely out of dibbunhood, and threw him onto the ground. Jade gasped as she realized it was Brilo, the only one surviving of her family members, their parents having  
died of pure exhaustion a season earlier. Brilo had been one of the slaves the Wolf took along on his raids, as cook, healer, servant, and whatever else was needed, so Jade rarely saw him. 

With a twitch of his paw, Viluz ordered one of his guards to "dispose" of the young squirrel. The guard, a weasel, immediately stabbed his spear forward, through the body of Brilo, who was still on the ground, cowering. 

Something in Jade snapped, and she began running, faster then she ever had before, and leapt onto Viluz, biting and clawing, intent on completely destroying him.  
Overtaken by bloodwrath, she didn't even feel the guards beating her with the butts of their spears, or the knife that bit into her leg. One of the guards swung fiercely, and hit Jadesong on the back of the skull, knocking her out cold.

A bird twittering overhead brought Jade out of her memories, and she began walking again down the small dirt path. One thought on her mind: To find Viluz the fang, and end him.


End file.
